Not Just Words Challenge Entry
by PLKBerry
Summary: For bookluva98's contest. Each chapter is one prompt. Wish me luck! R&R
1. Realizations Prompt One

_**Realizations**_

**June 3, 2011 Toledo/Ohio/Eastern Time**

**This one-shot was written for bookluva98's Not Just Words Challenge. Reviews would be lovely, but (I'm pretty sure) aren't nessacery for entry. You should totally check it out- it's so clever how she found that loophole!**

**This takes place during The Last Olympian, the night of Percy's 16th birthday, in Rachel's point of view. This is not a Rachel hating story, nor does it end with her ending up getting Percy. If you don't like that, kindly don't read the story.**

**Prompt One: _Broken, just another word for defeated. Fancy yet detached, yes, but meaning is one in the same._**

_She beat me._ The words pound in my head as I lay on my borrowed bed in one of the various empty rooms in the bighouse. It vaguely registered that this should bother me. Even though I was first to voice our... I supposed you could say our 'break up,' it was clear he had decided long before. Whether he realized it or not, he'd always known it. I realize that now.

It was pretty impossible to feel hurt, or even vexed. _I should be broken,_ the thought swirled around in my mind, _but I am more whole than I ever was before. _Now that the oracle had taken residence in me, I felt like the hole that had been in me is finally filled. I was so scared of being broken, I never realized I already was. Now, now I am whole for the first time in my life. I'm not even sure I ever liked Percy that way. It was like that crush you get on that guy from homeroom because he looks like that cute celebrity. I wasn't being drawn to Percy, as I'd orginnaly percieved, I was being drawn to this... world he represented in my life.

I was drawn to the adventure, the monsters... and the prophecy. Looking back, that's what I most often thought about whenever my mind drifted to him. Don't get me wrong, I thought of his sea-green eyes, and tan skin, but it always seemed to loop back to his fate. _He has to save the world, _I had thought bitterly, _with HER. _I never understood that it was only the first phrase that raised my blood pressure, and that the second was fairly irevelant. I never realized how my mind lingered on his future. On the future of the world. It was clearly calling me, but I never heard it.

Even when the dreams began, and the visions appeared- I never noticed how I would wonder at this cruel fate. I asummed I was irratated that he could not spend more time with me, or was overwhelmed when I pictured the pressure that should have broken him. I should've known that you should never assume.

I didn't realize, until Hestia showed me the one vision I had never recieved. Percy was drowing. I know, impossible, but... the water here was different, if it was even water. The dark river flowed, and he was almost pulled into the current, and he barely held his ground. I could images flash in the outer layer of his eyes. Faces, memories. Nothing helped in the least. I could see his idenity draining away, his green eyes growing black and lifeless. Then, a single image appeared, splattered across the... _things_ in the river. Annabeth stood on a dock somewhere, and the sky was a perfect cloudless blue. I could see an overturned canoe a few feet away. Annabeth laughed, and called him Seaweed Brain (I never understood that insult, only masking a term of endearment), then pulled him up. Like that, he was finally free from whatever force that had attempted to claim his soul. Just from her.

In that momment, I realized, I didn't really mind. I should have been jealous, but... I wasn't. I should have been broken inside because he chose her, and not me. But at that momment I knew there was nothing between Percy and I, because I didn't care. Expected it, even. Now I can see that.

I threw down the thin yellow checkered bedspred, and padded over to the window. I stared at the calm waves of the canoe lake here, there was the dock from the vision... did it take place just this morning? I was about to turn away, but something told me not to. I kept my eyes there for a momment more, and a two figures rose out of the water, latching onto each other tightly. They stepped onto the dock, and released each other, but grasped hands. The two silently made thier way to the cabins.

I stepped away from the window, and digested this sight. I realized I was okay with it. Their was no trace of jealousy or antagonistic ideas. In fact, I felt kind of... happy. I realized I could be happy here, at least until school started. I mentally cringed, but I wouln't think of that now. Now, I realized that I was complete. Why wouldn't I be? I had no more reasons to be broken, did I?

I began rummaging through the drawers in the old-fashioned oak dresser. I should be broken, but maybe, just maybe, I wasn't. Maybe, just maybe, I simply didn't care.

I found an ageing piece of paper, and an old pencil, and began my sketch of two figures walking down a beach, just two halves of a whole. Because they wouldn't be broken again, and neither would I.

**Love it? Hate it? Let me know!**

**Peace, Love, & Life**

**PLKBerry**


	2. Lacking A Lurking PresencePrompt Two

_**Lacking a Lurking Presence**_

**5-16-11 Toledo/OH/Eastern **

**Summary: Annabeth goes to Californa to find Percy. And if she does, how will she react? How will he react? And what is this presence that Percy keeps missing?**

**Notes: Wish me luck! I hope you like my story, please review!**

**Prompt Two: **"Lost, yet another word for alone – in a sense. So why is wandering the broken path so hard if she knows there is no company?" ****

_Annabeth _

I slammed the door and shut out the sound of my step-mother's querying. I admit, she had a reason to be suspious. Why would I come to visit my family if I spent no time with them? If I told them the real reason I had come, though, they would tell Chiron and I'd be sent right back to camp.

Don't get me wrong, I still love camp, but I grow restless. At camp all I can do is plan, and it's time to put a plan in action.

I made my way to the woods and starting hiking through the woods. I figured if Camp Half-Blood had one, the Roman Camp probably did, I trekked through, the thoughts in the back of my mind began to wander to what I was searching for. "Percy," I whispered.

Crusty's when he was calm and cool and got us out of there when I was in danger of getting my head cut off.

Crouching down behind some boulders as we watched Grover in wedding dress, Clarisse, and a cyclops.

The momment he appeared and saw me bound and gagged, yet refused to leave and instead rescued me.

Walking behind him and Rachel as she guided us through the maze and my blood boiled in jealously.

Watching him fly off out of view after the Clazmonion Sow, ready to fight.

Those six glorious months when we were together and talked long into the night.

I didn't realize I was crying until the tears stopped. I lingered on the memory of one night in particular. We weren't really doing much, just hanging out and talking about things. Life, school, my plans for olympus, the present. Not stressing about the future or worrying about the past. Just living in the moment. Just being together.

I was suddenly very aware that I was alone. There was no famliar presence beside me, which had been there for five years. I knew that wandering this broken, twisted path called life was only made all the harder by the lack of company. I missed that Seaweed Brain. That was simply all there was too it. I missed him.

I trekked through, and came to a clearing with a single tree in it. It stood, old and gnarled. So strong, so wise, so pride. It stood, sort of beautiful in an odd way. The wide trunk blocked my path, and the tall branched leaped up to the sky. My eyes followed, and I looked at a cloud, thinking about everything that had happened to disrupt the hard-earned peace we were rewarded.

I returned my gaze to the tree. . .and. . .it wasn't. . .there. I thought hard and quickly. There's no way a tree nymph would be so careless as to move right in front of someone unless... My heartbeat picked up to rocket speed.

This forest was magic. I mean, not like that. But this had to be... No, I wouldn't let myself think it. It's not possible it's... A form whipped past me, a bright red flag in hand.

The Roman Camp.

I crept forward, and froze. Right in front of me was a boy about my age with his back to me. I whipped on my invisabilty hat, because the last thing I wanted was for them to attack me. Instead, I studied the boy. He had messy black hair, and a tan muscular figure. A bronze blade glinted in his hand. He turned his head to look at something to our right, and took off running.

But not before I saw his eyes. His _sea-green _eyes. Oh my gods. I've found him. And lost him. Again.

I sighed a freaked out a camper standing near me. He was gone again. I shouldn't have come. I should have been patient, and waited for the quest. Because, as much as I longed for the company he would give, I couldn't stand it if he didn't remember me. I just couldn't. I hated hiding here, this invisable shield that no one could see through.

I took my hat off, but by now the clearing was deserted. I heard cheering in the distance, and knew that one team had won and one had lost, that the game was over. That's how it always is, isn't it. One side loses and one wins, but it only lasts until the next game. Normally, my team wins. Normally, Percy's on my team. Fighting against Gaea without Percy on my team? Not a great idea. I trudged back home, and wondered if Percy's team had won.

As I made my way to the room I used when I was here, my step-mother intercepted (again).

"So, did you find it?" she gave me a no nonsense look, as if she knew I'd been untruthful in my intentions.

"What?"

"You didn't come to see Matthew's newest crayon drawing. You've been searching for something. Did you find it?"

I must say, she took me by suprise. "It's demigod stuff, I won't bother you with-"

"Did you find it?" She was persistent, wasn't she?

"I- Yes. Yes, I did." I tried to walk past her, so I could crash down and cry within the safety of my walled-in room.

"You don't seem happy about that." she pursed her lips, looking concerned. My step-mother had been a little more welcoming towards me. Not as bad as before. I didn't really know why, but I sort of liked it.

"It's... I don't know." It was true. I'd just seen Percy for the first time in months and I didn't know if I was happy or upset or what. Did I regret not talking to him? I don't know. Gods, I was so confused.

My step-mother studied me and, probably deciding she didn't know how to help, stepped aside and allowed me to proceed to my room where I sat on my bed numb and uncomprending.

* * *

><p><em>Percy<em>

I froze. Someone was behind me. I was about to spin and attack, when I heard a comotion off to my right so I flew to it on impulse. Somehow I had a feeling whoever was behind me posed no threat.

Turns out the game was over, and that we'd won. Somehow, though it didn't seem all that important. I had the strangest feeling something was missing. I felt alone. I know that's stupid. I mean, there was the entire camp but I felt like I couldn't be me with them. Like I was missing something. "A presence, or a force, or maybe even a person. I doubled back to were I was before, just to see if I could find what I'd been searching for within myself for so long.

When I got there, though. All I found was a large tree standing in the middle of the clearing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement, but all I could catch was the sun glinting off a vanishing. . .something.

That night, I went to bed thinking of the sharp cool bronze cursed blade of a dagger I imagined was some important part of my past. But what?

**Peace, Love, & Life**

**PLKBerry**


	3. Unfamiliar Faces Prompt Three

_**Unfamiliar Faces**_

**7-11-11 Toledo/OH/Eastern **

**Summary: Luke? Oh yeah, he died. But that doesn't make him any different. Luke still feels bad about everything...**

**Notes: Wish me luck! I hope you like my story, please review!**

**Prompt Three: ** **"Malicious and crazed, were you, and those were your fatal flaws." ******

I banged on the grand black doors, with curling iron tendrils, "Hey! I need to talk to you, Hades! Yo!" A rather vexed God of the Underworld appeared before me. He was angry? Good.

"What? Can't you see I'm very busy? I can't be bothered with-" Then he noticed me, and his expression visably darkened. "_You_ again? I told you, I'm not putting you in the fields of punnishment! Do you realize how many gods would have my head? Your still considered a hero of Olympus! Stupid of them, if you ask me, but no one ever does. So be gone with you!" A wave of his disgruntled hand, and the sweet smell of flowers filled my nostrils. Elysium. Again. I sighed...

Hades could play this game as long as he wants, but I'm never giving up. Try as he might, I refuse to rest peacefully in Elysium. I _will_ get what I deserve, and this wasn't it. I deserved pain. I deserved torture. I wanted revenge on the part of me that I didn't reconize- twisted and evil.

I walked over to a peaceful little pool of spring water and looked down at my reflection. That unfamiliar face that was never mine. No, even when my soul was in myself and in control, that face belonged to Kronos. That wicked scar that constantly reminded me of my resentment of the gods... And of Percy. Okay, I admit it. I had been jealous of him for some time, and still was, to an extent. Percy waltzed into Camp Half-Blood, and befriended Grover aka MY FRIEND. He ended up getting a crush on Annabeth, too. She was like a little sister to me, okay? I had a right to feel a tad overprotective. Besides, he was tying her to that side. I remember when Annabeth would always listen to me, but then she was listening to him. Percy's a great guy, and regret that I spent so much of my short consumed with hatred and jealousy for him. And, okay, a little fear. He was the only one who ever beat me (besides Thalia).

I watched my that person looking back at me in the spring, someone I loathed and sent me into a feeling of tumult. I longed for the bright-eyed, smiling boy without a scar that I once was. That boy I was, but this one staring right back at me was simply the one that consumed me. He drove me mad with lust for revenge that I had never cared to seek before. A malice that caused even me to hate myself. This person staring back at me was my fatal flaw, and he killed me in the end.

Percy really is a great guy, though I refused to admit it to myself for so long. He saw this person in the pool for who he really was. Percy hated him. Yet, Percy could never truly bring himself to hate me, even though I didn't hesitate. I'm glad Annabeth found someone better to lean on, so she didn't follow in my footsteps. Looking back, though, at that point she was no longer the little girl that needed me to hold her hand. She could make her own decisions. She does. And I was happy for them both. I was. The boy looking at me now never would have, but I was no longer that boy. The boy with the unfamiliar face that allowed others to control him. Simply a stepping stone. Vital, yes, but unimportant.

"Hey."

I tore away from that monster gratefully, disgusted with him, to face none other than the King of Ghosts.

"Hey, Nico."

"I hear you talked to my dad again."

I nodded sullenly, not speaking.

"He turned you down. Again."

"Yeah." I felt like punching something. When will this monster get the slow, painful, eternal torture he deserved?

"Look... No one blames you."

"I let them all down. I poisoned Thalia's tree. I abandoned Grover. I betrayed Annabeth. And Percy... He thought I was his friend. I feel so bad." I collasped to the group, landing in a heap. I sat there for a moment in silence as Nico stared at me for a moment. I'm sure I looked a mess, but I didn't care. I couldn't live with myself, but I couldn't die with myself either.

"Thalia is happily part of the hunters. Grover's living large with Juniper as lord of the Wild. Annabeth is happier than I've ever seen her. Granted, all the times I've seen her see's been recently holding up the sky, or about to die, or under some ridiculous stress or something, but still. Well, she's a little upset now, but it'll pass once the problem is resolved..." He trailed off, and when I looked up, he wouldn't meet my eyes.

"What about Percy? And what problem?"

"That's the thing. Percy... went missing."

I froze. No. My fatal flaw destroyed me. Is it possible it destoyed him, too? He was such a great hero... No. Then I really couldn't die with myself.

"It's only been three days, though. Once, he dissapeared for two weeks after causing a huge explosion."

Yeah. But if I had had my head on straight, he wouldn't have needed to blow up the telekines. "What happened this time?"

"Nothing. He went to bed, and when he woke up he wasn't there."

A new threat? Or had Kronos NOT been so dead? "I have to help."

"Luke-"

''No. I failed them all too many times. I have to help them now. I'll be on the right side this time."

He looked at me for a momment, and I realized I had risen to my feet, and stood taller. "Okay. Follow me."

Nico took me to the edge of a river, and I scowled. "The styx? No way. Never again."

"It's not the styx. It's the lethe." Then the reality crashed down on me. Rebirth. I did mention that to Annabeth before my death...

"Okay. Let's do this thing."

Nico smiled, "Awesome."

* * *

><p>I stepped out of something. It looked like a river.<p>

"Hi!" I replied brightly, "Who am I?"

A boy maybe around fourteen smiled back and consulted a paper in his hand. He had oily black hair, skin that was a shade paler than olive, and black eyes that looked dark and intriging. "Your Gregory Nouvel, but people call you Greg. You like to play football, are dyslexic, have ADHD, and have never met your mother. You also have a crush on a girl named... Autumn." He looked up and smiled at me again. All this information pleased me greatly.

"I'm am Greg Nouvel!"

Then the boy said something, though I did not understand why.

"You are not, and will never be, Luke Castellion."

**A/N. At least, not anymore.**


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